A video of NBA Elite shown at the NBA draft last week did plenty to rile fans of both sides in sports gaming's last real competition. One sent a link to NBA 2K's community manager, who tweet-replied "That looks awful."

"And you were worried," Ronnie Singh, the NBA 2K community manager, said to the fan (who apparently was concerned that 2K had an answer for Elite's touted gameplay changes).

Because of exclusive arrangements and wide disparities in quality, pro basketball is really the…
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Look folks, this is a head-to-head business competition, not the Senate dining room. These guys are also basketball players themselves, and that's a trash-talking sport. While it's nice when competitors say gracious things about each other, you generally don't see that from line troops of directly competing products. I would be more alarmed if anyone attached to NBA 2K said "Wow, that looks like a good game," - especially the community manager. So would 2K's very motivated fan base, too.

As I said before, we've just embarked on what will be an entertaining journey to the games' release in October. 2K Sports landed Michael Jordan on its cover and in the game, and will absolutely work up a rolling-thunder schedule of news and announcements designed not only to get their message out, but also to blunt any headway NBA Elite might make. Elite, for its part, has the money and promotional muscle of EA Sports, and the producer whose game pretty much kicked the ass of NHL 2K.